Parks and Recreation Watch: Season 5, Episode 10 - Two Parties

Ben and Leslie have their respective bachelor and bachelorette parties on the same night and one group has a lot of fun while the other moves plot points forward.

Unfortunately, Leslie is saddled with the plot heavy party, as the proposed park next to Ann's house is surprisingly put under construction by her councilman rival. Leslie can't get her party on, even to a sexy Abraham Lincoln, as her mind is too focused on the untimely coup by her rival so her plan is to plant some Native American artifacts in the construction site to halt construction. Leslie’s conscience quickly gets the better of her though and she admits her sins. The plot line is a 360, bringing itself right back where it started, with little stakes changed in the game. It's biggest sin was not being terribly funny either, but April and local Native American Ken Hotate thankfully interject a few good laughs. April's ever changing mood and penis hat digging along with Ken playing white people, “like a fiddle,” were the high points of Leslie's side of the story and its just a shame that is about all we got. Actually, Donna is hilarious in her couple of brief moments and has some excellent back and forth with sexy Abraham Lincoln. I feel like forcing in some pointless plot development was rather unfortunate for this story as Leslie's bachelorette party seemed to be ripe for comedy. The choice seems even more odd given the theme of the males' side of the story; taking advantage of missed opportunities.

Chris is Ben's best man and he actually ends up becoming possibly the best, best man of all time. Handing over the party reigns to Ben to do whatever he wants starts out as a dud - boardgames anyone? - but the night quickly evolves into a bachelor party for everyone in attendance as they all missed out on their own respective bachelor parties. Ron, Andy, Jerry and Tom never had a bachelor party and Chris decides to give them all the best bachelor party ever on the fly.

The idea is brilliant and the execution lived up to the idea. Tom tried to get the party started by taking everyone to a new bar that ends up doubling as his party as it just screams Tom. cotton candy drinks, light flash vodka shots and, best of all, Ron's whiskey hand lotion are all inspired concoctions Tom would entirely appreciate. Andy gets to play football on the Colts field and with their best players, Jerry gets to eat ice cream at the place he met his wife and Ron gets the perfect toast over some excellent steak. The groups joy is palpable through the screen.

Andy really steals the show and Chris Pratt nails a couple of big moments. First, his reactions on the field feel entirely genuine, but the real gold is the tangent story surrounding Chris ending up with April in the future. It was one of my favorite moments for him and the show in sometime. I also really enjoyed Jerry's ice cream parlor employee who called him Gary and always has a stand by cone ready, “he drops it about half the time." Jerry is actually an excellent punching bag on number of occasions this week. I am also ecstatic as they have seemed to figure out where they want to go with Chris and I think Tweep might be an excellent fit for our new and improved city planner.

Half of this weeks Parks and Rec worked wonderfully, while the other half decided to interject some needless plotting. I really wish Leslie's bachelorette party was more of a classic comedy affair, but Ben and the boys mostly made up for that. Andy has a great episode and the show finally seemed to figure out Chris, but the episode was also a reminder of how aimless the season is. That isn't a complaint at all, I just like spending time with the characters, it just makes attempts like tonight to wedge in needless plot be more frustrating than they probably deserve to be.

Random Ramblings:
-The canon is a bit excessive for a point blank execution.
-"Anything that can be penis shaped will be penis shaped."
-"Jerry forced his way in there."
-"I'm nationally ranked so it wouldn't really be fair."
-"Start Drooling Fatties"
-"This is why I prefer nightmares."
-Babe Lincoln.
-"Turn it up 16, emancipate the ma'am!"
-"Or after for like a week and a half."
-"Boop, that's me hitting the snooze button."
-"Don't be afraid, uses the penises."
-"Ha, ga, da, baby."
-Pratt is so happy.
-"We paid for an hour, your going to dig for an hour."
-Newt?
-The perfect toast for Ron.
-"The Zodiac Killer never confessed, why should I have to."
-"Don't try to bond with me."
-"Get him a pet snake so I can keep it?"
-"Strange, but sweet."
-Andy's story was amazing.
-"He really plays white people like a fiddle."
-Tweeb and Chris, perfect!